
Gran Canaria 2014 made it to the Eurocup Last 16 by downing PGE Turow Zgorzelec 70-75 in Wroclaw, Poland in Group G on Tuesday night. Gran Canaria was second in Group G with a 4-2 record due to its tie-break disadvantage against Panellinios and automatically joined Last 16 Group L along with Crvena Zvezda, CEZ Nymburk and Turk Telekom. Meanwhile, Turow was sixth with a 1-5 record and had already ran out of chances to reach the Last 16. Jaycee Carroll led the winners with 15 points. Will McDonald added 12 while James Augustine and Sitapha Savane each had 10 for Gran Canaria. Michael Wright led Turow with 16 points. Justin Gray added 12 while Krzysztof Roszyk had 10 for the hosts, that led 33-28 late in the second quarter. Savane, McDonald and Josh Fisher allowed Gran Canaria to regain the lead, 45-46, at halftime. It all came down to the final 3 minutes, as a jumper by Robert Witka brought the hosts within 65-67. Carroll had 6 points in a 0-8 run that sealed the outcome, 65-75, helping Gran Canaria to stay alive in the competition.
A three-pointer by Marcus Norris ignitied a 0-7 opening run that Daniel Kickert capped with a layup. Jim Moran soon struck from downtown to give Gran Canaria a 2-10 lead. Three-pointers by Witka and Gray rescued Turow but McDonald allowed the guests to keep a 10-14 edge. Konrad Wysocki joined the three-point shootout and free throws by Wright soon tied it at 16-16. Wright sank a jumper and TJ Thompson added a layup but McDonald and Fisher put the guests back ahead, 20-21. A jumper by Roszyk gave Turow a 22-21 edge after 10 minutes. Wright shined with a three-point play early in the second quarter and Roszyk added a layup for a 27-23 Turow edge. Melvin Sanders and Augustine restored a 27-28 Gran Canaria edge. Wright stayed on fire with another layup-plus-foul that Gray followed with a triple for a 33-28 score. Augustine tried to change things for the guests and Tomas Bellas sank a three-pointer to keep Granca as close as 36-34. Witka downed a triple but Savane and Carroll fueled a 0-6 run for a 39-40 Gran Canaria edge. McDonald and Fisher kept the guests ahead, 45-46, at halftime.
Savane shined with a layup right after the break and soon added free throws to keep Gran Canaria ahead, 48-50. Norris sank a jumper, as Turow struggled to score early in the third quarter. Wright rescued the hosts with a layup and Bartosz Bochno nailed a triple for a 53-52 edge. Augustine hit free throws and Carroll added consecutive jumpers to pue the guests back ahead, 55-58. McDonald scored down low and Bellas buried his second three-pointer to boost his team's lead to 57-63. Roszyk brought Turow within 59-63 after 30 minutes. Wysocki and Savane traded baskets early in the fourth quarter and a jumper by Fisher gave Gran Canaria a six-point lead, 61-67. Both teams struggled to score now but Witka and Wysocki brought Turow as close as 65-67. Gran Canaria found a go-to guy in Carroll, who nailed consecutive jumpers. A layup by Augustine soon made Turow call timeout at 65-73 with 3 minutes left. Turow struggled to score right when it mattered while a big basket by Carroll sealed the outcome, 65-75, allowing Gran Canaria to seal its ticket to the Last 16.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Eurocupbasketball.com